Women's Basketball 2012 Game Highlight

02/12/2013 - Philadelphia

Wilmington University had the deficit down to as few as five points in the second half, but a late game surge saw Philadelphia come away with an 80-60 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory in women’s basketball action at the Gallagher Center on Tuesday evening.

After Philadelphia (11-10, 7-7 CACC) held a 10 point lead at the half, the Wildcats (3-20, 1-15 CACC) fought back and closed the gap to as few as five points using a 15-10 run to open the second stanza.

Cari Callaway hit a jumper to cut the Ram lead to 53-48 with 13:14 remaining in regulation, and the Wildcats kept the deficit within single digits to as late as 6:04 to play before the home team ran away with the match late.

Freshman Tenicia Spence carried the offensive load for the Wildcats, scoring a game high 31 points on an 11-of-21 performance from the floor. The Baltimore, Md., native connected on 2-of-3 from beyond the three-point arc while added a perfect 7-for-7 performance from the foul line. She also grabbed the second most rebounds on the team, collecting seven boards.

The Rams saw five players reach double digit scoring, led by freshman Tori Arnao’s double-double. Arnao scored a team high 20 points and was the lone student-athlete to grab double figure rebounds, collected 17. Najah Jacobs and Alexandra Heck added 13 points each for the home team while Monica Schacker and Taylor Peltzer chipped in with 10 points each. Peltzer missed her own double-double by a single rebound.

Philadelphia got off to a hot start in the game, jumping out to a 27-10 lead in the first 11 minutes of the contest. The Wildcats were able to slice into the lead before the break, as Cari Callaway made back-to-back layups to cut it to 11 with under a minute to play. Now trailing 13, Spence converted a jumper with 19 seconds left and Callaway made one of two from the line right before time expired to head into the locker room down 43-33.

Taylor Carter scored Wilmington’s first five points of the second half, hitting a two-point jumper before nailing a three-pointer after a Ram free throw to close the gap to 44-38 less than a minute into the second half. Minutes later, Spence again cut the lead to six with one of her two three-pointers on the night, making it 48-42 with 16:29 remaining.

Following a Spence jumper cut the deficit to seven, Lauren Brown put in a layup to close within five with 14:50 showing on the scoreboard. Philadelphia’s Arnao came back down and sank her own jumper before Callaway made it a handful once again with a jumper with 13:14 to play. But the Wildcats would not be able to get any closer than seven points the rest of the way.

With their lead at 67-58 and 6:05 to play, the Rams went on a 13-0 run over the next 4:30 to take command of the game and open up an 80-58 lead. Spence ended the run with a layup, settling on the final score.

Callaway finished with nine points, three rebounds and two assists while Carter added seven points and two assists. Kathryn Franklin added a team high nine rebounds in the loss.

The Wildcats return home on Saturday for the first time since the beginning of the month when they host Caldwell College in another CACC matchup. Wilmington will be hosting its annual Breast Cancer Awareness contest on Saturday and will be wearing pink warmup shirts to help the cause. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to help spread awareness with any monetary donations going to the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition.